Principal's Report

School Magazine - Order now!!!

Having seen the final proofs of our 2023 School Magazine - "A Year In Our Shoes", I highly encourage all of our families to place an order for a copy! While you're at it, why not order one for the grandparents/aunts/uncles/cousins/neighbours too!

Each class has a page, along with lots of highlights from the year, as well as an extensive section fare-welling our Year Six Students. Enormous thanks to Kirsty Davies and Mollie Trounson for your many hours (days?) of work in coordinating and compiling this wonderful keepsake, as well as to all staff who submitted pages, photos or artwork.

Orders for the Magazine can be placed via Course Confirmations on your family Compass dashboard. Give the office a call if you need a hand to find it.

Please note that a single copy of the Magazine is included in the Year 6 End of Year bundle of payments. Year 6 families wanting more than one copy can order via Compass as described.

Staffing 2024

With our ‘stepping up’ sessions and 2024 class planning in full swing, we are now in a position to inform the community of our staffing structures for 2024. The 2024 structure sees some movement of established staff, as well as the opportunity to welcome some new faces to our teams.

Our 2024 staffing will be as follows:

Teaching Staff:

Foundation - Claudia Collins, Lorna Say

Year 1 - Cheryl Ryan, Samuel Fenton

Year 2 - Melinda Browne, Renae Greer

Year 3 - Kirsten Davies, Kate Pickburn

Year 4 - Anne Seymour, Ash van Hattum

Year 5 - Micah Gonzales, Cameron Batt

Year 6 - Sonia Robinson, Mollie Trounson

Physical Education - Tim Fearn-Wannan

Visual Art - Katrina Cassidy

Performing Arts - Lachlan Hilston

STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics) - Tristan Liao

Japanese - Kelly Vimpani

Tutor Learning Initiative - Jessica Lipscombe

Education Support Staff (Classroom)

Sophie Posselt, Heidi McArdle, Lisa Ralling, Briannon Jarchow, Marcelle Abrahams, Kevin Moloney, Finn Corbett-Davies

Administration

Principal - Peter Watson

Assistant Principal - Stephen Roche

Business Manager - Melissa Khoury

Front Office - Luciana Sanelli

First Aid - Lisa Ralling

There are a couple of notable absentees from the list above; with Emma James, Erin Cheung and Nicholas Kong taking or extending leave for 2024 to explore some new opportunities. We thank Emma, Erin & Nick sincerely for their extensive contributions to our school over many years. I would also like to extend thanks on behalf of the community to Lena Zappia, who has taught 6R throughout this year, despite not originally intending to work full time in 2023. Your flexibility and dedication have been much appreciated Lena!

In terms of new faces, we look forward to introducing Cameron Batt, Samuel Fenton, Lorna Say and Lachlan Hilston to our community in the coming weeks. We are excited about the contribution that these impressive professionals will make to our school in 2024 and hopefully beyond!

Finally, we have one 'welcome back', with Tristan Liao returning after taking a couple of years to explore some opportunities in the art world - including taking out a major prize in the 2023 Roberts McCubbin Art Show!

Our 2024 teams will be meeting in the coming fortnight to plan for 2024, with students to meet their new teachers and classmates on our 'Stepping Up' morning from 9am on Tuesday December 12.

Colour Run - Thankyou!

Congratulations to Emma Becker, the PFA and the army of volunteers who coordinated and ran our Colour Run on Monday. Students across the school beamed from ear to ear as they made their way around the obstacle course, with splashes of colour on white shirts eventually mixing together to form a sort of 'rotten fruit salad' appearance! Hopefully family washing machines and bathrooms have recovered from the aftermath!

As always, it was great to see our staff being good sports and joining in the fun, also getting a thorough colouring and dousing.

Congratulations also to our students and families for your efforts in fundraising, with a reported total in excess of $13,000 gratefully received. As a bonus, the highest fundraisers from each class had the opportunity to give Mr Roche and Mr Watson a good coating of Green Goo - to the delighted cheers of the whole school and a large gathering of parents and carers!

Finally, our local Fire Brigade unleashed a torrent of water from their truck, which rained down on to those interested in an early shower - particularly Mr Roche and myself who were badly in need of de-sliming. Keen eyes would also have detected a fly-by from the MFB helicopter during the hosing. Our thanks to the MFB for coming along to add a unique finish to a wonderful event!

Thanks and congratulations to our top fundraisers, as shown below:

The remainder of my message this week are reminders of some important messages featured in the last newsletter. Please take a moment to browse below.

Moving on in 2024?

If your family are planning a move to a new school for 2024, early notification greatly assists our forward planning. Please contact the school office to inform us of your plans.

2024 Planning

With Term 4 upon us, planning for the 2024 school year is well and truly underway. We are currently working with our leadership teams on roles and classroom allocations for next year, with planning for 2024 classes beginning in a few weeks. This planning of classes is an extensive task, with many contributing factors being taken into consideration before students find out where they will be for 2024 on Stepping Up day (Tuesday 12th December).

Students have opportunities to nominate some peers that they would like to be in the same class as in 2024. In all but very exceptional circumstances, students are placed with at least one of these nominated peers. In circumstances where this appears to be impossible, families will be contacted to discuss options prior to the stepping up day.

If parents have particular concerns regarding class placement, you are welcome to email me via peter.watson@education.vic.gov.au, however please be aware that it is very difficult to guarantee placements with or separations from  specific peers. Placements with specific teachers are even more difficult to accommodate.

Hats

A further reminder that our Sunsmart period is firmly upon us and as such, all students are required to wear a wide-brimmed school hat outside at all times throughout the day. The assistance of parents and carers in ensuring all students have such a hat at school is much appreciated.

Financial Assistance

We are well aware that many in our community are currently experiencing significant financial hardship at present. In keeping with our strong commitment to inclusion at Roberts McCubbin Primary School, if your family is finding payment for a school event to be prohibitive, please contact myself or Business Manager Melissa for a confidential discussion of options.

Peter Watson

Principal